Method of processing spice



oi the material tain contained Patented Sept. 11, 1945 William A. Bush and Edward A. Lasher, Los

Angeles, Calii'., assignors to California Flaxseed Products Company, Los Angeles, Calil'., a corporation of California No Drawing. Application November 12, 1941,

Serial No.

12 Claims.

This invention relates to'a method for process-- ing spices and the like, and to improved spice powders.

Natural materials used for spices, condiments, flavors or perfumes, such as for example cloves, capsicum, chili peppers, ginger, cubebs, caraway, coriander, and the like, are reduced to fine powders with considerable difficulty by the usual methods, largely because of the presence of oily materials which cause agglutination in the grinding operations. In some materials, this agglutination effect is. aggravated by the increased stickiness resulting from the exposure of oily surfaces to air durin the grinding, ceroils being oxidized under these conditions to sticky films similar to those of the drying oils of the paint industry. The problem of reduction to a fine powder is complicated by the fact that long exposure to air, especially at high temperatures, deteriorates the color, flavor and odor of the powdered products, and long time of grinding and consequent long time of exposure to air is a necessary accompaniment of the difliculty of grinding.

We have found that these difficulties may be largely overcome by first removing all ,or a portion of the oily substance prior to the fine grinding operation, followed, after a suitable fine powder is obtained, by replacing the oily constituents in the powder. The oily materials may be removed by any suitable means, for example, by extraction with a solvent. However, for those materials whose value depends upon natural unimpaired flavors and odors, this method is not always satisfactory, because the solvent almost invariably eiiects some change in the flavor or odor, and because it is usually difficult to remove the last traces of solvent from a solid material of the nature of spice and the like. We prefer to remove the oil, or a portion of it, by mechanically pressing it out, which-is possible because of the relatively high oil content of the particular materials to which our process is applicable. The solid residue containing a relatively small proportion of the originally contained oil, is readily powdered in hammer or attrition mills of the usual types, after which the expressed oily materials, which contains much of the flavor and odor, and some color, is dispersed into the powder, thereby restoring all of the original ingredients unimpaired or unaltered, except that the product is in powdered form.

One object of our invention is to provide a method for powdering high oil-containing spices without alteration of the color, odor or flavor.

together and to the grinding machines,

After the oil has been separated from the solid material as indicated above, the oil may be sub- J'ected to various forms of treatment to improve its strength, flavor, odor, or its keeping qualities, before restoring it to the powdered solid material.

Another object of the invention is therefore to provide a method for improving the quality of powdered high-oil-containing spices and the like.

Another object is to provide finel ground spices which are less subject to deterioration by aging. Still another object is to provide spice powders having increased or decreased flavoring orscenting power. Another object is to provide spice powders in which selected flavoring constituents are altered in concentration.

Our process maybe illustrated as applied to the reduction to powder of dried chili peppers. This material is very diflicult to reduce to a line powder because of the presence of oils and oleoresins which cause the disintegrated particles to stick during the grinding operations as ordinarily carried out. In grinding the whole pods, including the seeds which contain as high as 22 percent of fixed oil, the grinding is particularly diflicult because at some stages this oil lubricates the grinders and retards grinding. The agglutination effect is particularly troublesome in grinding chili peppers because the oil contains much linoleic glyceride and similar compounds, which becomes sticky upon exposure to air. By pressing out a portion of the oil and oleoresins, powdering the comparativelyis obtained which retains the original red color,

and is unimpaired in odor and flavor. The whole pods are first macerated or crushed to release the contained oily substance, and then as much as possible of the oily content is removed by pressing. While batch 0r intermittent processes may be used, we prefer to use a continuous macerating and pressing machine such as the continuous expellers used in the recovery of vegetable seed oils. The material during this treatment of maceration and pressing is not allowed to get to a higher temperature than about centigrade, to avoid possible deterioration of the color, odor or flavor. The press cake is friable and easily reduced to a fine powder in a hammer mill. After reducing .the press cake by usual grinding and screening operations to the desiredfineness, the powder is placed in a mixer, and while it is being agitated, the expressed oil containingthe natural oils and oleoresins, is added as a fine spray to thoroughly product which scribed, a useful 2 disperse it in.the powder. When using a continuous seed oil expeller, it is the usual practice to add sufficient water to get a satisfactory plasticity in the cake so that it will extrude, as well a to prevent "burning of the cake. This moisture is of the order of about five percent.

For some uses, it is necessary to reduce the burning flavor, largely-due to capsa-icin, which is characteristic of chili products, while retaining the desired other flavors and odors. This has been accomplished by extracting the expressed oily liquid with a suitable selective solvent such as for example 87-percent isopropyl alcohol. Any desired portion of the capsaicin may be removed by choosing the suitable relative amount or kind ofselective solvent; or the number of times the expressed liquid is extracted by portions of the solvent. When using isopropyl alcohol extraction, it is only necessary to draw off the extract, and remove the last traces of solvent from the oily liquid residue by low temperature evaporation under a partial vacuum, the last traces of the solvent being swept out by an inert gas such as carbon dioxide. The purified expressed oil and oleoresin may then be sprayed or otherwise dispersed into the powdered presscake, giving a cooler chili powder, without loss or impairment of the other desired flavors and odors. The excess capsaicin may be. recovered from the extracting. solvent.

Because of its intense red color, chili powder has valuable properties as a. harmless red coloring agent for certain food products, but the amount which canbe used for coloring is limited somewhat by the concentration of the associated capsaicin which can it is desired to color. By removing part or all of the capsaicin, as above defood coloring product may be made.

A chili pepper powder may also be produced with increased capsaicin by dissolving additional amounts over the naturally occurring amounts, in the oily liquid prior to mixing it into the powdered solids.

The linoleic glycerides and similar compounds, which were noted above-as being one cause of agglutination when grinding these oily spice materials by ordinary grinding methods, also cause the development of undesired odors and flavors in the product when it is exposed to air. In the past it has always been found necessary tokeep the ground spices in sealed containers, or to use only freshly ground materials. This difficulty is particularly true of chili pepper powders. To correct this deterioration, the linoleic glycerides may be separated from the expressed oil of' chili peppers, prior to dispersing it into the powdered solid material, as above described, by successive extractions of the liquid with a suitable selective solvent, for example practically anhydrous ethyl alcohol, which does not dissolve the glycerides. The alcohol may then be removed from the desired oils and oleoresins by vacuum evaporation 'or otherwise, before dispersing the improved liquid back into the powdered solids. This treatment to remove linoleic glycerides may be carried out on the expressed oil either with or without the removal of some of the capsaicin. The powder so prepared will remain fresh in flavor and odor forv a. much longer period than the natural powder, or longer than the powder made by the restoration of the untreated oil to the powdered solids materials.

The concentration of the flavoring and odorous betolerated in the foodv terial may be altered as a flavor, odor, color.

ingredients in the powdered solids-"from spices and the like may be altered to be either the same, or more, or less than in the natural materials, by changing the proportion of added oily substance and powdered solids. In this way, following our invention, concentrated spices may be produced which are still in the form of powders, which have long been accepted by the public, and yet which have the advantage of producing the same flavoring and perfuming effects by the use of smaller quantities than is customary.

Our process may be used for treating any powdered spices, condiments, perfumes, flavors and the like which in their natural form are difllcult to powder because of their high oil content. The quality of the powdered reconstructed spice ma- 7 keeping quality, etc. by the methods which have been illustrated with the specific material chili peppers. Also the same strengths may be attained as in the natural powders, by using the improved grinding procedure of our invention, omitting the extraction steps.

We claim:

1. The process for powdering spices comprising coarsely crushing the spice, removing a major portion of the flavoring oil, finely grinding the low-oil-containing solid material, and restoring the flavoring oil to the finely ground solid material.

2. The process for powdering high-oil-containing spices comprising coarsely crushing the spice, pressing out a major portion of the flavoring oil, finely grinding the low-oil-containing solid material, and restoring the flavoring oil to the finely ground material.

3. The process for powdering high-oil-containing spices comprising coarsely crushing the spice, extracting out a major portion of the flavoring oil by means of a solvent for said oil, removing the solvent from said flavoring oil without impairment of its flavor and odor, removing the solvent from the extracted solid, finely grinding the extracted solid material, and restoring the flavoring oil to the finely ground material.

4. The process for improving high-oil-containing spices comprising coarsely crushing the spice, removing a major portion of the flavoring oil, treating the flavoring oil to remove undesired constituents without impairment of its flavor and odor, finely grinding the low-oil-containing material, and dispersing the treated flavoring oil in the finely ground material.

5. The process for improving high-oil-containing spices comprising coarsely crushing the spice, removing a major portion of the flavoring oil, extracting the flavoring oil with a solvent which will selectively separate out the unsaturated glycerides, finely grinding the low-oil-containing solid material, and then dispersing the purified flavoring oil substantially free from-unsaturated glycerides in the finely ground solid material.

6. The process for powdering dried chili peppers comprising coarsely crushing the peppers, j

extracting out a major portion of the flavoring per spice material comprising coarsely crushing oil by means of a solvent for said oil, removing the the peppers and expelling a major portion of the solvent from said oil, finely grinding the low-oiloily liquid, removing a portion of the .capsaicin containing material, and restoring said flavoring from the oily liquid by extracting it with a selecoil to the finely ground solid material. propyl alcohol, 9. The process for improving dried chili pepfinely grinding the low-oil-containing solid mapers comprising coarsely crushing the peppers, terial, and then dispersing the extracted oily removing a major portion of the oily flavoring l quid in the finely ground solid material. liquid, treating the oily flavoring liquid to remove 12. The process for improving dri d h li D undesired constituents, finely grinding the low- 10 Pe Spice ma e al compris g coarsely crushing oil-containing solid material, and dispersing the th Peppe s and expelling a majo D n f the treated oily flavoring liquid in the finely ground ly llq r m v n a p n f h cap i in material, from the oil liquid by extracting it with a selective solid material, and then dispersing the oily liquid 20 said extracted y iq id in the finely ground the fine y ground solid material. WILLIAM A. BUSH.

11. The process for improving dried chili pep- EDWARD R- 

